Sicily and the Italian Campaign

Sicily and the Italian Campaign1943-1945

Module objective: Guided by both research and inquiry-based questions, students will explore perspectives on the Italian Campaign, to understand the campaign as a success or as a failure from historical and contemporary perspectives and wrestling with the ethical implications of this diversion.

Intended audience: Grades 10-12

Prior knowledge required: The Battle of the Somme; Passchendaele; the Normandy Campaign

Problem overview

Canadian soldiers, aircrew and sailors formed large part of the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy in 1943 and the campaign that lasted there until 1945. Historians and veterans debate whether the Italian Campaign was a successful Allied diversion of German forces away from Russia and Normandy, or if it was a failed attempt to attack Germany through Italy’s rugged mountains.

​How do you measure the success of a diversion?

Problem background

Where, Who and Why?

Nearly half of the Canadian Army fought their Second World War mostly in Sicily and Italy from 1943 to 1945. However, the story is usually overshadowed by the better-known Allied D-Day landings in Normandy and the liberation campaign across Western Europe. Canada’s wartime experience in Italy is clouded by the debate over the Allied decision to invade Italy. Decision-makers, campaign veterans, and later historians argued over whether the Allied effort served as a diversion of German military power away from more vital places in Russia and France or a failed effort to seize Italy and cross into Austria and Germany from the south. Participants and historians who see merit in the Italian campaign diversion debate whether the Allied campaign there could have been fought more effectively, thereby avoiding a hard-fought, attritional struggle.

Regardless of which view is most compelling, nearly all participants in Italy agree that Allied troops faced horrendous hardship, operating with limited resources in extreme weather and mountainous terrain that produced conditions that reminded veterans of the Western Front in the First World War. Inside this context of international debate, Canadian troops won controversial victories in Sicily in July-August 1943, at the Moro River and Ortona on the mainland in December 1943, at the Hitler Line and Liri Valley in May-June 1944, and finally along the Gothic Line from August 1944 on to the end of the year. Those actions were fought against some of the best troops in the German Army, at a cost of nearly 6000 Canadian dead and over 20,000 wounded.

German commanders believed they won a defensive victory in Italy, repeatedly blocking the Allied advances there in 1943 and 1944. Many Allied commanders believed the Germans only achieved their defensive goals at a higher price in men and resources than Germany could afford. Historians debate which side suffered higher casualties in the Italian campaign of attrition. Another consequence of attrition warfare in Italy was that much of the country was ravaged and many innocent civilians were killed, wounded, or left homeless. Historic Italian communities like Ortona, Cassino, Monte Sole, and Rimini were blasted to ruins.

The Canadians committed to the Italian campaign did not stay through to its end. Instead, in March of 1945 they secretly withdrew from Italy and joined the rest of First Canadian Army for the Liberation of the Netherlands in April and May 1945.

Key questions and debates

The three student activities in this module are designed to address the key questions and debates surrounding the topic, and are framed by the guideposts to historical thinking for each of the historical thinking concepts ​addressed in the module. Activities are intended to be completed in order. Please click below to see an activity overview, guiding questions, and additional topics/questions the teacher may introduce.

Students will consider the experience of an individual Allied solider by crafting a soldier biography.

Culminating activity/assessment

To demonstrate understanding of the variety of historical perspectives on the Italian Campaign, students must answer the question: Are comparisons to The Battle of the Somme and Passchendaele justified?

Students must use the primary source documents in the student section of the website as the basis for their responses, and may choose the format of the response: write an essay, compose a song or dramatic monologue, write a theatrical sketch or newspaper op-ed.

Students demonstrating sophisticated thinking will be able to identify that there are a variety of historical and contemporary perspectives on the Italian Campaign. Students should also be able to articulate through this module their understanding that recognizing this diversity of perspectives is essential to understanding the past.